Fender shield fastener



Patented Mar. 20, 1945 I UNITED STATES 'PATENT lorrlCE FENDER SHIELD FAs'rENER Arthur P. Fergueson and George W. Schatzman,v Betroit, Mich., assignors to Houdailleg-Hershey Corporation, Detroit,k Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application February 3, 1941, Serial No. 377,175

' s claims. (Creez-1581) This invention relates to fender shield and fender shield assemblies, and more particularly, to a fender shield having novel mounting means thereon for detachably securing the fender shield to the fender.

In the vehicle industry, and particularly inv the automobile industry, various means have been utilized to improve the appearance of vehicle fenders. The usual vehicle fender is provided with an opening which affords access to the vehicle wheel, and which permits the ready removalI of the wheel in -an axial direction. Since this opening inherently presents an ugly outward appearance, detachable fender shields have been employed to substantially cover this opening.

As the term fender shield shall hereinafter be employed, it refers to any member which is adapted to be secured to a fender or other portion of a vehicle body for the purpose of covering the opening in the fender or vehicle body-which is provided for access to and removal of the vehicle wheel. Furthermore, as the termffender shall hereinafter be employed, it refers to any form of wheel fender lin its broad sense, whether such fender be separate from the vehicle body part,

partly separate from the vehicle body part, or actually an integral part of the vehicle body, and whether or not it projects outwardly away from the principal body portion of the vehicle.

It is an object of the present invention to' prof vide a fender shield of novel construction and Y characteristics and particularly a fender shield having a novel means for securing the fender shield to a vehicle fender.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a fender shield and fender shield assembly which is economical to manufacture and which is rugged and reliable inuse.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide novel means for supporting and clamping the forward and rear ends of a objects andy advantages thereof, Imay best be understood by referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figurey 1 is a front elevational view of a vehicle fender and fender shieldassernbly;

FigureZ is an enlarged rear elevational view of the fender and fender shield assembly shown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line III-III of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional View through the fender and fender shield assembly as taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 2 looking down on the top of the upper attaching clip on the leading edge of the fender shield;

Figure .5 is a fragmentary elevational'view of the'supportingl arm on the lower forward corner 'of the fender shield;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of Figure 2 looking down on the top of the supporting'arm shown in Figure 5; I .i

' VVFigure 7 vis an enlarged rear view of the clamp at the lower rear corner of the fender shield;

Figure 8 is la vertical sectional View through the clamp as taken'along the line VIII-VIII of Figure 7; and,

Figure 9 is a sectional view similar to Figure 8, but showing the position-of the clamp andthe shield as the shield is being moved into latching engagement.

`Referring now to the various figures of vthe drawings which illustrate one embodiment' of the present invention, there is illustrated therein a vehicle .fender I0 having a fender I shield II mounted thereon over the wheel access opening I2 inthe outer depending side kwall I3 of the fender II). While the fender I Il may assume a wide variety of shapes without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention, andI the relatively large opening I2 inthe youterside4 wall I3 of the fender I0 which is conventionally providedin substantially all vehicle fenders to permit access to and removal of the vehicle wheel therethrough.

In order to permit the Tenderv shield il to be y mounted so that its edge does not directly engage the outer depending side wall I3 of the fender I0, the fender I0 is provided with an offset shoulder I4 which is integrally connected to the depending wall I3 by a connecting ange I5. The shoulder I4 has its peripheral edge folded back on itself in an open fold as at I6 to reinforce and stiften the offset shoulder I4 around its free edge. The extremity of the: fold defined by the bent back portion I6 forms the opening deiining edge I2 in the fender I0 previously referred to. The depth of the connecting flange I is such that when the fender shield II is seated on the offset shoulder I4 the outer face of the fender shield II extends only slightly beyond thev outer depending wall I3 of the fender Ill.

be pointed out this provides a mounting means for the latch lever which permits the latch lever to engage the fender, opening near its rear end.

Mounted on the strut 26 is a latching arm 33 which includes a short leg portion 34 and a relatively long leg portion 35, disposed at an angle with respect to the short leg portion 34. This latching arm 33 may be conveniently mounted on the strut 26 by a mounting stud or rivet 36 carried on the strut 26. The short leg portion 34 of the latching arm 33 is shaped to engage the The lower edge of the fender II) is provided with a rearwardly extending at, ilange Il. This rearwardly extending flange I1 stiffens the forward and rear base edges I8 and I9, respectively, of the fender I0 in a conventional manner.

The fender shield II comprises a sheet metal panel which is large enough to cover the entire wheel accessopening as well as overlap the offset shoulder I4 as it is clearly shown in Figures 1 and 2. More specifically, it is dimen sioned to be positioned snugly within the connecting flange I5 and to be seated on the offset shoulder I4 of the fender IIl. The lower edge of the panel 2D is shaped as shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings and isprovided with a bent back base iiange 2I to the upper side of which is secured a reinforcing bar 22 by means of rivets 23.

The top and end. edges of the. fender shield II are bent back into a flange portion 24 uponwhich is mounted a rubber cushioning strip 25 which may be secured or bonded thereto in any suit able manner.

The fender shield II is further reinforced by a brace bar or strut 26 which extends upwardly behind the panel. 2,0 from the lower edge flange 2 I- to. a point in' proximity to the, top of the. fender shield II. This strut 26 has a base portion 21 which is seated on the reinforcing bar 22. and which is riveted or bolted thereto as at 28` In order that the strut 26 may present suflcient rigidity without undue amount of metal being formed therein,`it is preferably channel-shaped in cross section.

Mounted on the top of the strut 26 is avertically adjustable plate member 29. which extends up into engagement with the rubber cushioning strip 25 at the top of the fender shield. The novel features of this strut and the novel manner in which it may be secured to the fender shield is described in detail and claimed in the co-pending application for patent of George W. Schatzman entitled Fender shield and mounting means therefor, United States Serial No. 271,915, filed May 5, 1939, now issued as United States Letters Patent No. 2,241,043, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention` It is sufcient for the purpose of the present application that the substantially vertically adjustable plate 29 is carried on a threaded stud 3D which extends down into a recess formed by the upper portion of the strut 26 and a strap bracket 3l which is secured to the strut 26. A pair of nuts 32 are tted onto the threaded shank of the stud andare tightened down against the top of the strut 26 to force the plate 29 upwardlyv into tight engagement with *he rubber cushioning strip 25 on the tcp flange portion 24 of the fender shield II. l

It will be observed that the strut member 26 .is mounted at a slight angle to the vertical, as

is clearly shown in Figure 2. As will presently 'forwardly as at 4l.

curled or rolled flange I6 of the fender IIJ at the top rear part of the opening I2. The long leg 35 of the latching arm 33 extends downwardly to the bottom of the assembly and its lower end 3l is provided with a U-shaped bend 38 therein which extends around the lower edge flange I'I of the fender ,IB and the base flange and bar 2I and 22 of the fender shield II.

The fender shield II is vertically supported and laterally secured against dislodgement by a pair of fastening arms 39 and 4B at the forward end of the fender shield and by an attaching clip or latching means 4I at the trailing edge of the fender shield. It will, of course, be understood that these supporting and attaching means are in addition to the latohing arm 33 hereinbefore described.

The attaching arm 39 on the forward edge of the fender shield is mounted on the rear of the fender shield I I at the junction of the panel portion 2u and the flange 24. It is secured thereto inr any suitable manner, such as by spot welding or the like. The attaching arm 3S is provided with a free end portion 42 which is so shaped as to extend around the shoulder I4 of the rolled edge I6 and to be seated on the latter. The tip 43 of thefree end portion 42 dares back.- wardly to provide a cam surface for guiding the arm 39 into tight engagement with the rolled edge I6 of the fender i0.

The lower supporting arm 4i! located on the lower portion of the fender shield I I is riveted as at 44 to the reinforcing bar 22 and the base ilange 2I of the fender shield II. The rivets 44 cooperate with the rivets 23 and the rivets 28 of the strut assembly to retain the reinforcing bar 22 in secured engagement on the base ange 2l of the fender shield II. The arm 40 has, a free end portion 45 which is shaped to extend forwardly beyond the leading or forward edge of the fender shield as at 46 and then downwardly and The free end portion 45 of of the arm 46 is arranged to extend through an opening 48 in the flange portion I5 of the fender I0. AS aninspection of Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings will quickly show, this hooked engagement of the arm 4I) through the hole 43 in the ange I5 of the fender I0 provides both a vertical support for the fender shield II as well as a lateral restraint. Note in Figure 5 that the tip portion 4'I is seated on the iiange Il of the fender III.

The rear edge of the fender shield II is supported by a spring clip or latching means 4I which may be seen best in Figures 7, 8 and lil of the drawings. This latching mechanism or spring clip 4I has a base portion 49` which is welded or otherwise suitably secured to the under side of the base ange 2l of the fender shield Il. Rising upwardly from the base portion49 is a pair of inner lugs 5G which merge into a bent tongue 5I which extends rst vertically upwardly then obliquely downwardly as at 52 then directly rearwardly as at 53 and finally directly downwardly as at 54. Also extending up from the base 49 of the clip 4I are a pair of upper legs or ears 55 which terminate in obliquely bent back lips 56. The legs or earsv 55 are arranged to bear'against the base ange I1 of the fender I0. The lips 56 of the short upstanding legs 55 act as cam surfaces to guide the upright portions of the legs 55 into engagement behind the rear edge of the ange Il. It will be observed that the tip or end portion 54 of the tongue 5I extends down between the legs 50. .The obliquely downwardly and forwardly bent portion 52 of the tongue 5I provides a cam surface for flexing the tongue rearwardly as the fender shield is moved upwardly (see Figure 9). The rearwardly extending portion 53 of the the tongue 5| provides a latch which is snapped over the base edge I1 of thefender I0 into the position shown in Figure 8.

To mount the fender shield II on the fender I0 the latching lever 33 is rocked to a position `fender shield.

While we have shown a particular embodiment of our invention, it will, of course, be understood that we do ynot wish to be limited thereto, since many modifications may be made,

- shield supporting and latching member having where the short'leg portion 34 thereof is below the top edge of the fender shield. The leading edge of the fender shield is then moved so that the lower arm 4D is hooked through the opening 48 in the ilange I5 of the fender I0. The fender shield during this movement is held in the position as shown by the dotted line in Figure 1. The

shield is then rocked upwardly about the arm as a pivot to cause the attaching arm 39 to becammed into tight engagement behindl the rolled edge I6. As the fender shield is being rocked up into place the spring clip 4I snaps into latched engagement by virtue of the fact that the cam portion 52 of the tongue 5I is forced rearwardly until the horizontal portion 53 snaps over the top of the base flange I1 of the fender I Il. It will be observed that when the clip has been snapped into place the rear end of the fender shield is vertically supported by theportion 53 of the c1ip'4I while lateral displacement of the fender shield at this point is restrained by the ears 55. The latching lever 33 .is now rocked into position as shown in Figure 2, or in other words, until the short leg134 thereof is forced in behind the bent edge |6501 the fender I0. The U-shaped portion 38 at the lower end of the lever 33 is then forced over the base flange I'I of the fender I0 `and the reinforcing bar and'base flange 22 and 2l, respectively, of the fender shield I I.

To remove the fender shield Il, the lower end 31 of the latching lever 33 is grasped by the hand of the operator and forced rearwardly until the U-shaped portion`38 has become disengaged from the base edge I1 of the'fender I0 and the reinforcing bar 22 and the base edge 2| of the fender shield II. The latching lever 33 is then swung downwardly until the short leg 34 has become disengaged from the bent edge I6 of the fender a pair of spaced arms secured to the base flange of thevshield, said spaced arms merging into a fender thereby to hold the shield thereon, and f l said downwardly extending terminating portion extending between said spaced arms and located to be manually moved rearwardly thereby to free said horizontal portion from. the base iiange of the fender.

' 2. Attaching means for securing a shield having ay base iiange to a fender having a base iiange comprising, a member having a horizontal base portion secured to the base fiange of the shield, a resilienttongue arranged to be snapped over the base flange of the fender to vertically support the shield thereon, and at least one latchying nger engaging the rear edge of the base ARTHUR RFERGUESON. GEORGE W. scHATzMAN; 

